Dark Pegasus Video Review: TNA Against All Odds 2005

Against All Odds — 2.13.05

Live from Orlando, Fla.

Your hosts are Mike Tenay and Don West.

All eyes are on Jeff Jarrett and Kevin Nash. Well, not all eyes because we never get to see them, but everyone is sure talking about them. Scott Hudson, Shane Douglas, Larry Zbyszko, they all have something to say about Jarrett and Nash.

Opening Match: Petey Williams (w/Scott D’Amore) vs. Elix Skipper.
Although it’s technically not a stipulation, the winner gets a shot at the X-Title at next months Destination X. Interestlingly enough, Skipper was part of WCW’s Team Canada. Elix hits a nice dropkick early. Williams tosses Skipper to the outside where D’Amore gets in a cheapshot. Williams slingshots himself into a huracanrana. Back in, Petey busts out the crotch stand in the tree-of-woe. Williams goes for a crossbody, but Skipper avoids with the Matrix. Well, in theory. Actually, Williams missed and then Skipper ducked. Skipper bounds up the ropes and suplexes Petey off. A springboard guillotine legdrop gets two for Skipper. Skipper tries the ropewalk huracanrana, but D’Amore grabs hold of Williams’ feet, and Skipper falls on his head. The announcers seem to miss this. Things get really sloppy as they go into the Flair/Steamboat thing off a Canadian Destroyer attempt. Skipper misses a springboard dropkick. Petey goes for the Canadian Destroyer, but Skipper counters to Sudden Death (Schwein) at 7:57. **

Recap of the silly feud where racecar driver Jeff Hammond joins up with 3LK to feud with David Young, Matt Bentley & Frankie Kazarian. Yeah, the NASCAR set loves Mexican thugs and black guys.

BG James & Jeff Hammond vs. Matt Bentley & Frankie Kazarian .
Amazingly, Jeff Hammond does the “Arriba La Raza” promo! Okay, no he doesn’t, but it would be really funny if he did. Hammond shoves down Bentley and tags out. James gets caught in the wrong corner, but that doesn’t last long, thankfully. He double clotheslines the heels and makes the hot tag to Hammond. HAMMOND WITH THE M*THERF*CKIN DRAGONRANA! Okay, no. He just kinda runs into them, and they sell it. Heel doubleteam backfires, and Hammond finishes with the Pit Stop (running elbow) at 5:35. This sucked, and the crowd hated Hammond. In fact, at 5+ minutes, it was way too long. I assume this was part of the reason that Kazarian left for the WWE (things have to be better there, right?). 1/4*

Jeff Jarrett’s attorney confronts Dusty Rhodes and says that Jeff Jarrett has never used a guitar and anyone who says so is a damned filthy liar. Dusty chases him off.

Recap of the Raven/Dustin Rhodes feud.

Raven vs. Dustin Rhodes.
Raven stomps Rhodes down and spits in his face. Rhodes spears him and chokes him out with a boot to the throat. Raven cunningly uses the ropes to wrench Dustin’s knee and hits a discus clothesline. Raven locks in the Anklelock. Rhodes makes the ropes and gets the corner punches. Rhodes goes up but gets caught with a kick. The Raven Effect is countered to a superkick for two. Raven pops up and grabs the Anklelock. CRANK IT, KURT! I mean. CRANK IT, RAVEN! Rhodes reverses to one of his own, but Raven rolls him into the turnbuckle and gets the win with a Flair pin at 8:22. After the match, Raven locks Rhodes in a straitjacket and delivers more punishment. Cassidy Riley tries the save but takes the Raven Effect. That’s Aquaman-level heroic. *

Tenay and West’s tirade is by a Trytan promo. Wasn’t Trytan the God of the Sea, or was that Uranus. No, seriously, I think it was Neptune, though. Anyway, Trytan sucked and disappeared almost after he debuted.

NWA Tag Titles: America’s Most Wanted vs. Kid Kash & Lance Hoyt.
Shouldn’t Kid Kash’s sidekick be a midget? West shows his true political roots by saying Kash and Hoyt are the perfect tag team, then saying AMW are the perfect tag team. Kash and Storm start with mat wrestling. They go into the ECW series of nearfalls-that-aren’t. Tenay brings up the fact that Kash was trained by Ricky Morton. Great. He knows how to take an ass-kicking. Harris and Hoyt get into a hockey fight, prompting a four-man brawl. AMW rams Hoyt into Kash, sending them both to the floor. Harris launches Storm on top of them, but Hoyt cheapshots him to take over. Back in, Kash tries to smother Storm and springboards into a moonsault for two. A Hoyt powerbomb gets two, but Harris makes the save. Kid’s Frogsplash hits the knees, and they KO each other as they each try crossbodies. HOT TAG TO HARRIS! Harris cleans house on Hoyt with a flying clothesline and bulldog. Kash catches him with a rana but takes the Eye of the Storm (Helicopter Slam). Hoyt catches Storm on the top rope and delivers a sideslam off the top! Harris sends Kash to the floor and drops an elbow on Hoyt for two. Kash brings the tag belts in and blasts Storm with them. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Harris spears Kash who rolls into Hoyt’s ankle. Harris handcuffs Kash to the ropes, and AMW finishes with the Death Sentence at 12:25. Kash and Hoyt are no Team Canada, but it looks like AMW has perfected the Southern-style tag formula. ***

In the parking garage, Shane Douglas tries to find out who’s in the limo, but security cockblocks him.

Full Metal Mayhem, #1 Contender Match: Abyss vs. Jeff Hardy.
It’s basically a ladder match with two envelopes hung from the top. One has a contract for a title shot; the other is empty. Tables, ladders, chairs and chains are legal (hence “Full Metal”). Hardy springboards off a chair for Poetry in Motion. He tries again, but Abyss just dares him to come. Instead, Hardy SLAMS him with a chairshot and tries again, but this time Abyss hits him with a chair. Abyss stacks up tables while Jeff slides a ladder in. Abyss tries to powerbomb Hardy through the tables, but Jeff slips out and hits a sloppy Whisper in the Wind. Jeff sets up a teeter-totter with the ladders. Conveniently, Abyss sets him up on that particular corner so Jeff can come off and see-saw it up into Abyss’ face. Hardy rocks Abyss against the ropes with punches, and the crowd is already chanting for the spot they know is coming. Jeff charges and gets belly-to-bellied through the tables on the outside. Abyss sets a table on the entrance platform, but Hardy gives him a pair of Twists of Fate. Abyss conveniently lands on the table, so Jeff goes up to the top of the entrance façade and hits a swanton off the top. Hardy slides in the 15-foot ladder as Abyss crawls back to the ring. Hardy grabs one of the envelopes…but it’s empty. See, the obvious dramatic moment would be for Jeff to be completely spent and then when he finds all his effort was in vain, he is emotionally drained, enabling Abyss to attack him. Instead, Jeff just tosses it aside and moves the ladder over. Abyss grabs him and throws him through those stacked tables. From there, it’s easy for Abyss to climb up and pick up the contract at 15:46. This was not even significantly better than the best of the “yard tard” stuff I’ve seen. Hardy barely hit the “big spot” and that wasn’t even as impressive as his WrestleMania X-7 spot, although the announcers treated it like it was. *3/4

Team Canada (w/Scott D’Amore) vs. Monty Brown & Diamond Dallas Page
Monty beats Young from piller-to-post and works over his arm. Roode and DDP go next, and Page catches him with the spinning clothesline. Page gets caught in the wrong corner and plays face-in-not-so-much-peril. In fact, Page actually gets more offense in when he’s in trouble than Team Canada does. Brown gets the hot tag, but Roode hits him with a hockey stick. Page makes the save, and the whole match breaks down into a donnybrook. Page and Brown bust out the do-si-do and hit the Canadians with clotheslines. POUNCE ON ROODE! Young goes up but gets crotched. DIAMOND CUTTER! That’s enough for the win at 9:45. **1/4

In the back, Trinity and Tracy’s argument is broken up by the lawyer again. Nope, Rhodes still hasn’t signed the stipulations.

30-Minute Ironman Match: AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels.
First Fall: Mat wrestling to start. They reverse front facelocks over and over. AJ goes for a series of nearfalls, but Daniels stays ahead of him and ends the flurry with a lariat. Daniels avoids a dropkick once but gets cocky and runs into one on the rebound. AJ follows him to the floor with a huracanrana off the apron. They trade forearm blows before realizing they’re going to get counted out. They go counter for counter off a series of Styles armdrags. Daniels appears to hurt his arm and bails. AJ feigns a springboard plancha before hitting it for real. Daniels actually gets back in first and blocks an AJ springboard with the referee. He elbows AJ to the floor before AJ can recover. Back in, Daniels knees AJ in the gut with a knee lift and backdrops him. AJ’s injured ribs are definitely feeling the beating at this point. All of a sudden, AJ comes back with a rolling lariat and the Quebrada Inverted DDT for two. The suplex into a neckbreaker gets two more. Daniels catches AJ going up, but AJ counters a superplex and shoves Daniels to the mat. 450-SPLA-NO! Daniels gets the knees up and finishes the first fall with the ANGELS WINGS at 14:07. Daniels goes up 1-0.

Second Fall: Daniels goes after another pin as we hit the halfway point. When that doesn’t work, he goes after AJ’s ribs again. AJ comes back with a desperation backdrop. Daniels counters a hiptoss to an abdominal stretch, though. He keeps it from being boring by laying in shots to AJ’s exposed ribs. AJ hiptosses out of it but gets hot shotted on the top rope. A front suplex gutbuster gets two for Daniels. AJ comes back with a handspring back elbow. AJ hits a fireman’s carry backbreaker for two. SPRINGBOARD FOREARM! ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Ten minutes left for AJ to tie it up. Daniels gives AJ his own Quebrada Inverted DDT for two. That’s gotta smart. AJ kicks out of a Blue Thunder Driver. AJ ducks a charge and nails the Péle. AJ fires back but runs into a Samoan Drop right on those ribs. He avoids the Best Moonsault Ever and reverses an Inverted DDT to the Angels Wings! Tit for tat. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Daniels kicks out of his own finisher! Daniels hauls AJ up and goes for a backdrop suplex, but AJ floats over him into a surprise schoolboy rollup for three! AJ ties it up at 23:58. Match tied at 1-1.

Third Fall: An incredulous Daniels knocks AJ to the floor and tells West and Tenay that that’s his belt on their desk. He posts AJ, busting him open against the steel. Back in, Daniels zeros in on that open wound and batters it with right hands. Running STO by Daniels! ONE, TWO, THR-NO! A headbutt to the wound gets two more. Daniels goes for the Angels Wings, but AJ turtles. AJ fires back but runs right into the Flatliner into the Koji Clutch! Time is running down, though. AJ…just holds out for the time limit. (30:00)

Sudden Death: Daniels demands sudden death, and Dusty Rhodes grants it. A reverse bulldog gets two for Daniels. He shoves AJ to the corner and screams in his face. AJ shoves him away on a huracanrana. AJ tries his own off the second rope, but Daniels rolls through into a sunset flip. AJ rolls through that into the STYLES CLASH! ONE, TWO, THREE! AJ wins at 1:37 of overtime. Despite some moments of lapsed psychology (which is still better than most matches), this match was a coming out party of sorts for two guys who were maligned as nothing more than spot wrestlers. ****1/4

Recap of the odd dynamic between Jarrett, Hall & Nash, and Diamond Dallas Page. Hall and Nash basically wind up as tweeners although they’re more over as faces.

NWA Heavyweight Title: Jeff Jarrett vs. Kevin Nash.
If Jarrett uses a guitar, he loses the title. You’d think they’d strip him of it on general principle, but maybe that’s just me. Tenay mentions Nash’s various knee surgeries and points out that Jarrett will likely go after the legs. Indeed, after a few minutes of Nash overpowering him, Jarrett starts stomping at Nash’s knee. They brawl to the back where Nash puts Jarrett through the catering table. He pummels Jarrett, busting him open, and takes him back to ringside. Nash prepares to Jackknife Jarrett on the exposed concrete, but Jarrett goes low. He pulls out a case and produces…a CELLO! See, he can’t use a guitar, so he brought a cello! If this was any more bush league, it would give a contract to Halliburton. And as if it didn’t seem enough like theme night at a double-A baseball game, the cello falls apart before Jarrett can use it. Instead, he has to throw the base of it into Nash’s leg. Back in, he slams the case on Nash’s leg and locks in a figure-four. Nash makes the ropes and starts clubbing Jarrett in the face with his good leg. The big boot sets up a pair of Snake Eyes. Jarrett slips out of a third and clips the leg again. Jarrett brings in the cello again, but this time Nash goes low. Nash is about to use the cello, but the ref stops him. Nash picks Jarrett up, making sure to swing him into the referee. When does he ever turn with the guy in the Jackknife? He finally Jackknifes Jarrett into the cello, but there’s no referee. Kip James (still unnamed at this point) runs in and hits Nash with a chairshot. The ref recovers, and Jarrett gets two. Now, Syxx-Pac returns and gives Jarrett the X-Factor. Nash gets two. Kip grabs the title belt, but BG James comes down and takes it away from him. Nash clotheslines Kip out and turns around into a beltshot. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Nash survives a Stroke and goes for a chokeslam, but Jarrett shoves the ref, goes low and hits another Stroke for the win at 19:45. This was just so awful from concept all the way to production. It was like every bad idea from Memphis thrown into a hat and drawn out at random. Concession stand brawl? Check. Stipulation dodge by way of a 5 year old’s logic? Check. Rule book thrown out the window at convenience? Check. Multiple unnecessary run-ins? Check. The sad thing is it started out as a decent little brawl with Jarrett having a good strategy of going after the legs in between getting his ass kicked. Once the cello got involved, though, it was all downhill from there. 1/4*

The 411: This PPV actually received a number of positive reviews thanks to Daniels vs. Styles. If not for that match, this would be one of the worst PPVs ever put out by either promotion. Thankfully, that match is now available on the "Best of the X-Division" DVD, so you don't have to bother with this dog of a PPV. Solid thumbs down.
Final Score:  3.0   [ Bad ]